-----and that is the first time ever they would have gotten minor work scheme grants twice in the one year. That happened in the context of Covid-19 but that will be significant and there will be school projects, like in every other area around the country.

The Deputy knows my position.

Deputy Kelly knows my position on the separation of powers, because I made it clear to him.

Exactly the way the Deputy is behaving, that is why. I know what he is at.

The motion regarding greyhound racing is a simple referral to the committee and a debate will of course be accommodated once the matter comes back from the committee to the House. A debate will be facilitated on that issue. As regards the nomination to SIPO, the Government is nominating Mr. Justice Garrett Sheehan and Ms Geraldine Feeney to fill two vacancies which arose in the commission in February, namely, those of chair and of an ordinary member. Notwithstanding that there has been some controversy surrounding …

People are not debarred from serving on a commission of that kind just because of one particular issue at one particular time. She is eligible and has experience as a public representative. I think people who served with her in the Seanad would accept her fairness, integrity and her experience of regulatory affairs, which will be an asset to the commission. She registered as a lobbyist, along with other former Members of this House who have done the same.

On the selection of Mr. Justice Woulfe, the Judicial Appointments Advisory Board, JAAB, recommended that he was suitable for appointment. There was a selection process held by the Judicial Appointments Advisory Board, JAAB, and chaired by the Chief Justice. It included the Presidents of the Four Courts, in addition to representatives of the Law Society, the Bar Council and lay members. It recommended that Mr. Justice Séamus Woulfe was suitable for appointment by the Government.

There is a clear process for the appointment of a judge by the Government set out in the Constitution and in law. The process has been fully complied with in this case. Only one name-----

Deputy Kelly was in government and he knows it.

Only one name is ever brought to the Cabinet by the proposing Minister.

On 9 March, JAAB met and decided to recommend Séamus Woulfe as being suitable for appointment to the Supreme Court.

It is a different issue.

I dealt with this issue in the debate on the Order of Business for today. As I pointed out, there is a clear process for the appointment of a judge by the Government as set out in the Constitution and in law. That process has been fully complied with in this case. As I also pointed out, the Judicial Appointments Advisory Board is chaired by the Chief Justice and its membership includes the President of the Court of Appeal and the Presidents of the High Court, Circuit Court and District Court. That is the position.

Only one name is brought to the Cabinet by the proposing Minister. There is an issue. I have never before seen a situation where a Minister for Justice was brought into the House to account for the appointment process and why one judge was picked rather than another judge.

I have not seen that happen before. That would represent, by any objective yardstick, a breach of the separation of powers.

It is not rubbish. It is the function of Government to appoint-----

I accept the point made by Deputy Catherine Murphy that a judicial appointments commission should be progressed, and it will be progressed. However, the difference from the Judicial Appointments Commission Bill brought forward in the previous Dáil is that the Government thinks the proper approach to adopt is for the Chief Justice to chair the commission in terms of the appointment of judges in the future and recommendations that will go to the Government from the new judicial appointments commission. The Judicial A…

That has been the position since time began in terms of how judges are appointed.

The powers are separated.

Yes, I do. I must reiterate some key points. Regarding the previous appointment mentioned by Deputy McDonald, that was not through the JAAB process. That said, I never sought the presence of the Minister of Justice to go through a selection process, in terms of giving weight to one person's qualities as opposed to another's.